Barcelona-based Freightos, a global freight booking and payment platform, announced that it has acquired Luxembourg’s Shipsta, a freight-tender procurement platform.
This deal enhances Freightos’ digital freight services by adding tender procurement to its existing spot pricing, quoting, and booking capabilities.
The acquisition also broadens Freightos’ market reach and accelerates its growth, supporting its goal to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2026, while solidifying its position as a technology leader in the global freight industry.
Cash and equity deal
The acquisition will be financed with a combination of €4.5M in cash and approximately 640,000 Freightos shares to a key Shipsta shareholder, with adjustments for working capital and holdbacks. This investment supports the company in maintaining adequate cash to achieve positive cash flow.
Shipsta is expected to contribute around $800K to Freightos’ revenue in the last four months of 2024, with a moderate negative impact on Adjusted EBITDA, and $4M-$5M in revenue for 2025.
Ran Shalev, Freightos CFO, says, “We are pleased to meaningfully enhance our offering on favourable deal terms. This acquisition provides us with immediate cross-selling opportunities for incremental growth while further aiding our path to positive Adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2026 without requiring additional capital.”
“This acquisition strengthens our market position and positions us well for future growth and success.”
Aim of the acquisition
According to a statement from Freightos, supply chain efficiency and agility have become essential post-COVID-19 and amid the Red Sea crisis.
The combined Freightos-Shipsta platform will offer a unified digital booking solution for carriers, freight forwarders, and importers/exporters, enhancing the procurement and selling of freight services.
Founded in 2015 by Christian Wilhelm and Stefan Maratzki, Shipsta simplifies freight procurement for global companies by streamlining tender management across air, ocean, road, and rail.
Shipsta claims to have become a key logistics technology player, driving innovation and sustainability in the industry. Serving industries such as retail, pharma, and automotive, The company’s technology is used by major clients like Puma, Thyssenkrupp, and Rockwool.
Zvi Schreiber, CEO of Freightos, says, “The acquisition of Shipsta is a strategic milestone for Freightos, enabling us to advance our vision of digitising the freight industry end-to-end.”
“Shipsta’s platform, outstanding customer roster, and experienced team will add significant value to our offering by introducing tender management and contract procurement – a segment representing an estimated 50-70% of the total air and ocean freight market.”
“The acquisition addresses the needs of our importers, exporters, forwarders and carriers that seek comprehensive solutions beyond spot freight bookings and sales and we think customers will love the joint offering. We’re also excited to welcome Shipsta’s outstanding talent into the Freightos team,” adds Schreiber.
The acquisition of Shipsta integrates its products, customers, and team into the Freightos ecosystem, enhancing offerings and driving revenue growth through cross-sell opportunities.
Christian Wilhelm and Stefan Maratzki will continue to lead Shipsta’s development, with the team joining Freightos to accelerate roadmap initiatives and improve tender management, operational integrations, and market intelligence.
Wilhelm says, “Joining forces with Freightos marks a thrilling new chapter for Shipsta. Shipsta and Freightos share a mission to bring global freight online. Now, our customers will continue to benefit from the outstanding Shipsta product and team, with service and efficiency further enhanced, while driving new efficiencies to the thousands of forwarders that leverage Freightos and WebCargo by Freightos.”
“Together, we expect to accelerate market penetration, drive innovation, and set new industry standards in freight.”
Brief about Freightos
Freightos is a global freight booking platform connecting airlines, ocean carriers, freight forwarders, and over ten thousand importers and exporters to streamline world trade.
The platform digitises the international freight industry with software solutions for pricing, quoting, booking, shipment management, and payments. Key products include Freightos Marketplace, WebCargo, Shipsta by Freightos, and Clearit.
Freightos also provides real-time industry data through Freightos Terminal, featuring the Freightos Air Index (FAX) and Freightos Baltic Index (FBX).
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